stilts - Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library Tool Set
stilts [-help] [-version] [-verbose] [-allowunused]
[-prompt] [-bench] [-debug] [-batch] [-memory] [-disk] [-memgui]
[-checkversion <vers>] [-stdout <file>] [-stderr <file>]
<task> <task-args>
stilts <task>
help[=<param-name>|*]
STILTS provides a number of command-line applications which can be
used for manipulating tabular data. Conceptually it sits between, and uses
many of the same classes as, the packages STIL, which is a set of Java APIs
providing table-related functionality, and TOPCAT, which is a graphical
application providing the user with an interactive platform for exploring
one or more tables.
Detailed help for each task is available with the help
option of the task.
Some flags are common to all the tasks in the STILTS package, and
these are specified after the stilts invocation itself and before the task
name. They generally have the same effect regardless of which task is
running.
- -help
- Prints a usage message for the stilts command itself and exits. The
message contains a listing of all the known tasks.
- -version
- Prints the STILTS version number and exits.
- -verbose
- Causes more verbose information to be written during operation.
Specifically, what this does is to boost the logging level by one notch.
It may be specified multiple times to increase verbosity further. The flag
+verbose can be used to do the opposite (reduce the logging level
by one notch).
- -allowunused
- Causes unused parameter settings on the command line to be tolerated.
Normally, any unused parameters on the command line cause a usage message
to be output and the command to fail, on the assumption that if you've
supplied a parameter setting that's not doing anything it is probably a
mistake and you should be given a chance to correct it. But if this flag
is set, you just get a warning through the logging system about any unused
parameters, and the command is executed as if they weren't there.
- -prompt
- Most of the STILTS commands have a number of parameters which will assume
sensible defaults if you do not give them explicit values on the command
line. If you use the -prompt flag, then you will be prompted for
every parameter you have not explicitly specified to give you an
opportunity to enter a value other than the default.
- -bench
- Outputs the elapsed time taken by the task to standard error on successful
completion.
- -debug
- Sets up output suitable for debugging. The most visible consequence of
this is that if an error occurs then a full stacktrace is output, rather
than just a user-friendly report.
- -batch
- Some parameters will prompt you for their values, even if they offer legal
defaults. If you use the -batch flag, then you won't be prompted at
all.
- -memory
- Encourages the command to use java heap memory for caching large amounts
of data rather than using temporary disk files. The default is to use
memory for small tables, and disk for large ones. This flag is in most
cases equivalent to specifying the system property
-Dstartable.storage=memory.
- -disk
- Encourages the command to use temporary files on disk for caching table
data. The default is to use memory for small tables, and disk for large
ones. Using this flag may help if you are running out of memory. This flag
is in most cases equivalent to specifying the system property
-Dstartable.storage=disk.
- -memgui
- Displays a graphical window while the command is running which summarises
used and available heap memory. May be useful for profiling or
understanding resource constraints.
- -checkversion
<vers>
- Requires that the version is exactly as given by the string
<vers>. If it is not, STILTS will exit with an error. This
can be useful when executing in certain controlled environments to ensure
that the correct version of the application is being picked up.
- -stdout
<file>
- Sends all normal output from the run to the given file. By default this
goes to the standard output stream. Supplying an empty string or
"-" for <file> will restore this default
behaviour.
- -stderr
<file>
- Sends all error output from the run to the given file. By default this
goes to the standard error stream. Supplying an empty string or
"-" for <file> will restore this default
behaviour.
stilts-<task>(1) for all tasks,
topcat(1)
If the package stilts-doc is installed, the full documentation
SUN/256 is available in HTML format:
file:///usr/share/doc/stilts-doc/sun256/index.html
STILTS version 3.4-debian
This is the Debian version of Stilts, which lack the support of
some file formats and network protocols. For differences see
file:///usr/share/doc/stilts/README.Debian
Mark Taylor (Bristol University)